Dual-Beam Mathematical Model for Mechanical Response of Buried Pipeline and Pavement Structures Subjected to Ground Subsidence

Abstract

To further accurately analyze the mechanical response of buried pipelines and pavement structures subjected to ground subsidence, this study established a dual-beam model consisting of an upper Euler–Bernoulli beam and a lower Euler–Bernoulli beam to simulate pavement structures and pipelines. The embankment fill layer and foundation soil were idealized as in the Winkler foundation model, which was divided into three zones. Coupling differential equations for the behavior of this dual-beam–foundation system were established according to the force equilibrium among the pavement structure, buried pipeline, embankment fill, and foundation soil with voids. The stress distribution and deformation of buried pipelines and pavement structures were solved according to the boundary and geometric conditions. The proposed mechanical model was evaluated on test data and corresponding finite element codes, concretely verifying the model’s effectiveness, and a parametric study was proposed to investigate the behavior of this system, such as the bending stiffness of pipelines, traffic load, the strength of fill layers, and foundation soil.